Uber Buys Geometric Intelligence, Sets Up AI Unit

Taxi app firm Uber has acquired NYC research start-up Geometric Intelligence for an undisclosed sum. The firm has also set up a division focused on research into artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Founded by a group of scientists and machine learning specialists, Geometric Intelligence says it uses patent-pending techniques that learn 'more efficiently from less data'. As part of the deal, co-founder and CEO Gary Marcus (pictured) will run the new Uber AI Labs, and the rest of his fifteen-person team will form the initial core of the lab. According to Marcus, San Francisco-based Uber hopes this team will harness the data it collects from its millions of daily rides, and use it to make advances in how computers behind self-driving vehicles think and make decisions on the road.

Uber's Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden explains: 'In spite of notable wins with machine learning in recent years, we are still very much in the early innings of machine intelligence. The formation of Uber AI Labs represents Uber's commitment to advancing the state of the art, driven by our vision that moving people and things in the physical world can be radically faster, safer and accessible to all'.

Web site: www.uber.com and www.geometric.ai .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.